pánico

The crucial question about raising the federal debt ceiling is: What happens if Congress doesn’t? That is, what happens if Congress defaults? When President Trump returns from his “working vacation” later this month, this promises to be one of the major issues he’ll face, because the Treasury is expected to run out of cash in early or mid-October, according to projections by the Congressional Budget Office.

Janet Yellen, the chair of the Federal Reserve, is caught between Donald Trump and a hard place. By most accounts, Trump is an “easy money” guy who would prefer to keep today’s low interest rates to boost job creation.

When the next financial crisis hits -- an event that may be years or decades away -- we will learn whether this Congress and the president drew the right lessons from the 2008-09 financial crisis. Congress is arguing over whether government can avoid “bailouts” of large financial institutions and still prevent a full-blown crisis. With all of President Trump’s trials and tribulations, hardly anyone is paying attention.